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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24538618">Pinky Promises and New Additions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/IDsimmons/pseuds/IDsimmons'>IDsimmons</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In the Right Direction [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adorable FitzSimmons (Agents of SHIELD), F/M, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Kid Fic, Perthshire Cottage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:41:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,781</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24538618</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/IDsimmons/pseuds/IDsimmons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Deke comes to visit Jemma and Fitz at the cottage after the newest Fitz-Simmons is born. Peggy Fitz-Simmons isn't too sure how she feels about her new role of big sister quite yet.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Leo Fitz &amp; Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In the Right Direction [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698988</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>49</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Pinky Promises and New Additions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"Uncle Deke!!!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Pegasus! How's the newest big sister on planet earth doing?" Deke walked out of the backdoor of the Fitz-Simmons' cottage and scooped up the blur of curls and limbs barrelling towards him at full speed, the magnifying glass and soil samples immediately abandoned for her favorite Uncle. Unruly sandy curls were brushed impatiently from her face leaving Deke with the tail end of a Jemma Simmons eye roll as the six year old began correcting him with a bright, if not slightly patronizing, smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"There are an average of 250 babies born every minute Uncle Deke, it's statistically impossible for me to be the newest big sister on the entire planet, silly" she bopped his nose and Deke placed her back down on the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, you are the only big sister in this family and I think you're the best, so that's something, right?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How come you didn't get to have any brothers or sisters?" Deke tapped his fingers to his jaw in an exaggerated thinking motion, giving himself a second to come up with a decent enough answer. He always had to tread carefully with Peggy, he knew if he deviated too far from the truth he wouldn't be able to hide from the incessant question machine that is mini Fitz-Simmons and she could sniff out a half truth from the smallest hint. He squatted down in the dirt, taking care not to interfere with the carefully labeled vials and picked up the magnifying glass and put it up to his mouth, magnifying his teeth as he spoke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, my parents were probably just tired after me" He answered vaguely, Peggy nodded sympathetically at this, caressing Deke's rough cheek with an ice cold hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, I bet you were a handful." Deke couldn't contain the bark of laughter that escaped him as he tickled her stomach and pulled her over to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's ok, I'm a handful too, Uncle Deke. I'm trying not to get in the way but I think I am. Plus, I'm not very good at helping with her. She always cries really loud whenever I touch her. She doesn't seem to like me very much. So I'm trying really, really hard to not need anything and to be responsible and a very good big sister, but I just don't think I'm doing a very good job." Peggy finished quietly, sad blue eyes staring hard at the vials of dirt that suddenly became very important to rearrange. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Pegasaurus Rex," Deke pulled her back to him and hugged her tight, breaking her hyperfocus on the samples in front of her even if she still wouldn't meet his eye."Have you talked to your mom or dad about all of this?" The look on her face sent him reeling through flashbacks of Fitz staring at him like he was the biggest idiot on the planet and the sad, shakey smile she gave him broke his heart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"They're a bit busy, if you didn't notice. Also, I don't want them to feel bad. You can't say anything, Uncle Deke! Pinky promise."She held out her tiny pinky and he wrapped his own around hers. "Good. I'll be fine Uncle Deke, now help me fix these, you've made a mess of my samples." Peggy turned her back to him and gathered the vials that were knocked over in the hugging process when she began speaking softly again. "I'm just not good at being a big sister. It's ok, I guess, to not be good at something, I just really, really wanted to be the best at this." Peggy finished quietly, keeping her focus on everything but what was bothering her. Deke placed a solid hand on her small shoulder before hunching over and asking her about her organizational methods. Peggy visibly unclenched and began her long winded speech about the importance of organization in a work space, clearly grateful to change the subject to something that she, in fact, excelled in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pair gathered up all of the supplies in companionable silence. Deke followed her to her little workstation in the garden shed, entrusted with carrying her soil samples, and watched smiling as she meticulously replaced all of her tools. She took the samples from his grasp and the pair made their way back into the house. Deke found Jemma sitting at the kitchen table, face down, looking absolutely exhausted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nana?" Deke poked her shoulder playfully checking to see if she was awake. Jemma lifted her head from the table and smiled brightly at her grandson, getting up from her chair to hug him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Deke, you're finally here! It's good to see you! It's been so long!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's only been a like a month at most but I missed you too!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A month? That's it? Well time is relative when you are growing a human being inside you and then eject it from your body and then never sleep again." Jemma sees Peggy quietly hanging behind Deke finally, still clutching her soil samples tightly. "Bug, why don't you go and put those away in your room and get changed? Wash your hands, ok?" Jemma traced a curl from her daughter's face and looped it behind her ear. Peggy nodded and turned on her heel to head towards her bedroom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fitz came down the stairs announcing tiredly that the infant was at last asleep and gave a tired hello to Deke before moving to pull out three mugs from the cupboards and went about setting the kettle on while pulling a Zima out of the fridge for Deke. Deke immediately began talking knowing full well that neither of his grandparents had the energy to keep up the conversation, asking them a barrage of questions about the newest Fitz-Simmons, regaling them with stories from his recent SHIELD missions and going into some of the new projects that he was working on. He peeked around the corner into the hallway to ensure Peggy was still in her room and lowered his voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey, I know that I pinky promised a certain someone not to tell, but I wanted to give you guys a heads up that Peggy might not be handling the whole big sister situation as well as you think she is." Fitz's eyebrows shot up and he brought a hand up to massage his tired eyes. Jemma sighed heavily and smiled wearily at Deke across the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know," Jemma said overwhelmingly exhausted suddenly, "I overheard the whole thing earlier when I came out to say hello. I thought your conversation was a bit more important so I waited in here. I'm glad she said something to you. Don't worry Deke, we'll figure it out. We are all still adjusting. But thank you." She reached over and squeezed his hand and changed the subject, expecting the little girl to bounce back into the kitchen any second now. Fitz got up from the table without saying a word and began making three cups of tea, slamming the cupboards harder than necessary out of frustration and exhaustion. Jemma got up and ran a hand down his tense back questioningly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I should have noticed, I didn't even realize- how didn't I notice? I'm her dad. I used to know every single detail about her right down to that little eyebrow twitch she still does and now I can't even-" Jemma stood up onto her toes and pressed her lips soundly to her husband's to stop them from moving. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fitz. You are quite possibly the greatest dad in the entire universe, it's going to take us some time to figure this out. We will figure it out, together and it will be ok. I pinky promise." Jemma smiled and hooked her pinky around his, pulling him to her, tracing his frowning mouth gently with her own until she felt him respond. Winding her arms around Fitz's waist and she felt his muscles untense as she deepened their kiss, getting lost in the moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Don't go making anymore babies, I don't think the world can handle a third Fitz-Simmons baby quite yet." Deke laughed loudly at the expletives mumbled by Fitz into Jemma's shoulder. Jemma turned to him blushing, she definitely forgot that he was in the room, but she wasn't going to tell him that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Deke? Can you go check to make sure Peggy hasn't reinvented time travel in her room? She's been gone a bit." Deke knew when he wasn't wanted so he trekked his way down the hall and let himself into Peggy's bedroom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey, Pegmatic, need any help in here? Your mom and dad are being gross." Peggy looked up from her notebook where she was writing down her samples and descriptions in organized columns in her careful, neat handwriting and rolled her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nope, I'm almost finished. They're not gross, you're just weird." She scrunched her nose and smiled widely "A good weird, though." She added thoughtfully as she set down her pencil and stowed her notebook on the bookshelf next to her desk placing it back in the neat row of labeled notebooks. "Come on Uncle Deke, it's rude to hide in here. We should go back out there."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, yeah, let's go Miss I know everything, back out to see Nana and Bobo." Deke announced loudly down the hall just in case the pair were still entangled with each other. They walked back into the kitchen to Fitz and Simmons sitting at their little kitchen table, heads bent together deep in a whispered conversation, both turning and smiling at the same time as they walked through the archway. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Anyone ever tell you how creepy it is when you two do that?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes. Often." They both affirmed at the same time laughing. Fitz pulled Peggy over to him and he ruffled her already messy hair, planting a kiss on her forehead before passing her favorite bright yellow mug. Peggy pulled her chair closer to his before sitting down and sipping the tea her Da made for her. Deke plopped himself into the chair next to Jemma and felt the corners of his mouth upturn seeing Jemma's tired smile grow wider as she watched in amusement as her daughter kept scooting her chair closer to Fitz's until there was no more room to scoot. The little girl gave her Dad a cheeky smile and leaned against his arm, one small hand playing with the button on the cuff of his flannel shirt and the other holding her mug firmly. The baby monitor erupted with the cries of the newest Fitz-Simmons and Fitz instinctively moved to go to his crying daughter. Jemma pushed away from the table, setting a soft hand on his shoulder, keeping him in his seat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I've got her. You stay here." Jemma shifted her eyes to Peggy who had already scooted away from him, shoulders slumped, staring into the steaming liquid in her mug stoically, trying so hard to be ok. Fitz nodded at Jemma and tilted his head towards Deke. Deke pushed away from the table, making an excuse about checking something for work and left the room. Fitz pulled Peggy's chair back next to his and pulled her under his arm and waited to see if she would say anything. Silence permeated the room and Fitz rapidly came to the conclusion that Peggy might be his spitting image but this was all Jemma. He realized that he could wait there until she graduated college and she would never admit that there was anything wrong, not if it made their lives easier. Lucky for him, he was an expert on all things Jemma Simmons, including her coping mechanisms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know how when you were a tiny little baby like your sister, it was just me and you, right?" Fitz started explaining softly, he felt her nod against his arm and continued, "Well, it's not that I forget that your Mum's here now but with you, I did everything alone so it's my first instinct to go take care of your sister like I did with you. I don't want you to feel like I'm forgetting about you, because I swear I could never, not in a billion, trillion years forget you, Peggy. Never." He felt the grip of her arms wrap tighter around the one arm she took hold of. "But we are all new at this. Your mum missed all of these bits with you and well, I never had to share before plus no one here has ever been a big sister before so we have to figure it out together, but you have to tell us the truth, when we hurt your feelings or feeling sad about all the changes, you can't bottle it up all in here." Fitz tapped the center of her chest and held her tighter when he heard her sniffle. "We love you so, so much Peggy, don't hide from us ok?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ok." Peggy agreed in a small voice, muffled by his shirt. It was easy to forget just how young she was sometimes, he wiped the tears from her eyes and she gave him a tentative smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Promise next time you feel like this, you'll come to me or your mum?" Fitz added tracing his fingers down the planes of her tear stained face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Pinky promise." Peggy tangled her little pinky with his and shook his hand firmly. Fitz pulled her in for one more hug as she gave him one of her real smiles "Da, you're squishing me." Fitz released her, reaching down to mess up her hair again. Jemma walked down the steps cradling a pink faced, wide eyed, baby girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ugh, Fitz, leave the poor girl's hair alone." Jemma shifted the baby and reached over smoothing her oldest daughter's curls. "Do you want to hold her, Bug?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, thank you. I don't want to break her." Peggy backed away, tucking her arms behind her back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Come on, I'll show you. You won't break her, I promise." Jemma walked into the living room and sat down on the couch while Fitz took Peggy's hand and squeezed, looking at her questioningly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"She doesn't like me very much and I don't want to make her cry again so I don't think I should Da." Fitz squeezed Peggy's hand again and pulled her gently towards the couch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're her big sister, she loves you. Everything is just a bit new to her right now, crying is the only way she can communicate with us. Come on." Sitting ramrod straight in between her parents, Fitz arranged her arms indicating how she should hold the tiny human. Jemma carefully placed the baby in her arms, and held her breath hoping that the displaced baby didn't get grumpy about her new position. Jemma let out a sigh of relief when the baby settled into the still unsure grasp of her big sister, making little sounds of contentment. Peggy shifted her grip so that the infant could hold one of her fingers in her clenched fist. Peggy looked at her parents beaming, a look of pure unconditional love, as the a tiny fist held tight to her finger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Deke walked in through the front door, holding up his phone. "Sorry that was actually work, I have to go. Emergency. But first, Miss Peggy, care to introduce me?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Uncle Deke, this is Maisie James Fitz-Simmons, my sister." Peggy smiled happily, shifting her arms so Deke could see the newest family member better.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hold on, stay like that." Deke held up his phone and snapped a picture. "So framing that one, Nana, Bobo get in." Deke tapped his phone again and then pocketed it. "Sending those to Daisy, she will flip." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Deke? Send them to me as well. And be careful. It was good to see you." Jemma got up and hugged her grandson tightly before reaching down to take a wriggling Maisie from Peggy so that she could say goodbye. Fitz gave Deke a one armed hug and repeated Jemma's sentiments. Peggy launched herself at him and Deke caught her with practiced ease, hugging her tight before setting her back on her feet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Here, make Daisy really jealous." Jemma placed Maisie in Deke's arms and took his phone from his pocket. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wait, Peggy, come here." Deke called her over. Peggy leaned in grasping one of his legs as Jemma snapped pictures. Fitz snuck up behind Peggy, lifting her up and placing her on Deke's back, Deke and Peggy throwing their heads back and laughing their wild laughs while Maisie, for once, stayed content in all of the uproar. This was worth every single second of pain they had ever endured, Fitz decided. </span>
</p><p><br/>
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